Ex-Manus Island workers report beatings, rapes of asylum seekers

Sarah Whyte, Michael Gordon

Detention centre: Guards at Manus Island have been accused of violence, racism and sexual abuse against detainees.

Disturbing allegations of regular beatings, racist slurs and unwanted sexual advances by G4S guards on Manus Island have been made by a former Salvation Army worker.

Nicole Judge, a worker on the island, said she was "shocked and distressed" at the conditions on Manus Island when she arrived in September last year to work in a general support role.

In the three months Ms Judge was on the island, she claims in the submission to the Senate inquiry there was sexual activity in the so-called "rape dungeon" in one of the compounds and was told by the guards to carry a "rape whistle" while inside the centre. When she told Salvation Army staff that a young Myanmar asylum seeker was walking away from a toilet block in pain, her Salvation Army team leader dismissed her concerns, saying that "because these transferees are Muslim and actively engaging in prayer that any sexual activity would have been consensual". No follow up occurred, she says.

When another asylum seeker was being beaten against a wall and a metal bed frame to the point he was unconscious by two G4S guards, Ms Judge again complained to Salvation Army management, but was told she was "stupid" and "good luck".

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Mentally ill asylum seekers were kept in a separate compound called "Delta 9" Ms Judge says. "I have heard transferees screaming inside this area, and shaking the fence as I walked past." The compound, with no recreational facilities and poor lighting, was monitored by G4S guards, she says.

Ms Judge also claims expat guards told her "the Cronulla riots was the best thing to happen to Australia", while also telling asylum seekers to "f--- themselves" and to "return to their f---ing country" if they didn't stop complaining about their situation. She says she was often referred to by a number, where expat guards would rate the female staff on their attractiveness. Ms Judge says she still has contact with asylum seekers via Facebook.

Last year, an independent report by Robert Cornall found that alleged incidents of transferees being sexually abused, raped and tortured with the full knowledge of staff, "did not happen".

In a separate submission, another former Salvation Army staff member, Simon Taylor, claimed asylum seekers on Manus Island were being given a type of anti-malaria medication that detention centre staff had been warned by International Health and Medical Services not to take.

"Staff was [sic] told that they needed to take anti malaria medication as a precaution but to not take Mefloquine because it can cause serious side effects. I became aware from IHMS staff clients on Manus Island were given Mefloquine despite the warnings to staff," Mr Taylor wrote in a submission.

The governor of Port Moresby has taken the extraordinary step of talking out advertisements in PNG's national newspapers to express his "grave concern" about the treatment of asylum seekers in the Manus Island detention centre.

In an open letter, Powes Parkop describes their treatment as "repugnant to our traditional and contemporary culture and to our Christian values". He also laments that PNG has shown a tendency to "blindly or otherwise incorporate Australian treatment and attitude into our culture and our country".

The letter acknowledges popular opposition to the resettlement in PNG of those recognised as refugees, but argues that "qualified professionals" including engineers and doctors should be granted work permits while their claims are processed.

It also urges the country's Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister, Rimbink Pato, not to "allow Australia to wash its hands of this matter and leave the burden to us".

G4S and the Salvation Amy did not respond in time for deadline. IHMS referred the matter to the Immigration Department.

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